This invention relates to the method of doing business commonly known as "tipping." This practice is most common in food and beverage establishments. In this practice, a customer pays a monetary gratuity or tip to service personnel in addition to the monetary payment owed the establishment for food and beverages ordered. It is a practice of great antiquity. It should be understood that the amount owed to the establishment by an individual, and the desired amount of the tip, usually represent the charges incurred by more than one person or "cover" in a party.
In some food and beverage establishments more than one tip from a customer may be appropriate depending on the class of the restaurant and the number and types of staff personnel attending the dinner party. It may be appropriate, say, for the customer to leave one tip for the captain, another for the waiter, and yet a third for the somnmelier.
In one method of tipping the amount of the tip is not the customer's option. A particular restaurant may have a policy that for parties in excess, say, of eight people, a, say, 15% gratuity will be automatically added to the bill. Private clubs may automatically add a fixed percentage to each bill as a "service charge."
More frequently, the value of the tip to be left by the customer is optional. The amount of the tip is customarily calculated, by the customer, as a percentage function of the service establishment's bill. The customer solves the function to calculate the tip as an absolute monetary value.
When the customer pays for the meal by cash, the tip, in the form of cash, is left on the table. Customers do not always pay by cash. In many cases, the cost of the meal is charged against an account.
There are a variety of business methods by which the customer can charge his bills. In this disclosure, of course, the term "charge" as used throughout refers to the creation of a monetary debt, and not to an electric charge. If the customer is a known and trusted patron of the establishment he or she may be permitted to "run a tab." Here, an account is created to represent the customer's obligations and maintains a running total of the customer's charges for repayment by the customer at a later time. This is the customary business method used by membership associations such as private clubs.
Those skilled in the art understand that there is a more common charge method. This method involves a financial third party. The third party establishes a credit relationship with an individual by opening an account for the individual. The third party provides the individual with an individualized token, widely known as a credit card, as means for indicating the credit relationship.
Those skilled in the art will realize that although I use the term "credit card" for the individualized token issued, different types of credit relationships exist between the card issuer and the individual. The most common relationship is a revolving credit plan. It is also possible that the issuing agency requires payment in full upon issue of a periodic statement. Yet another possibility is to encumber the individual's account with pre-paid credits and later subtract charges. The particular financial nature of the relationship between the card issuer and the card holder is not important to this disclosure. Also, those skilled in the art will realize that although I use the term "individual" here, credit cards may be issued to organizations such as corporations for use by authorized individuals. It is possible for an establishment which maintains an account for a customer to issue its own credit card.
When a customer charges his meal using a charge card the customer signs a charge record and indicates the amount of the optional tip by writing the amount of the tip as an absolute monetary value. The customer then adds the tip to the charge subtotal to calculate the total amount to be charged. For those customers who determine the value of a tip as a function of the cost of a meal, this requires that the customer perform the calculation necessary to solve the function and add calculated amount to the cost of the meal to arrive at the total cost. Many customers find the calculations involved difficult and onerous.